BEREA, Ohio -- Jordan Cameron's poor dunk, scraping over the crossbar after a touchdown catch last week, was an ironic twist.

Like an increasing number of NFL players, it was his basketball skills that helped make him a pro football player. The third-year player has been one of the revelations of exhibition season in offensive coordinator Norv Turner's tight end-friendly offense.

After playing basketball for a year at Brigham Young, Cameron transferred to Southern California, where he was a wide receiver and, in his senior year, found his true calling at tight end.

"Body control from basketball definitely helps," Cameron said the other day before the Browns practiced. "You need size and jumping ability (to get open) and you have to move laterally. It helps in boxing out defenders and going and getting the ball. It's similar to basketball because you play in space a lot. It really transitions well to tight end."

Height doesn't make right in basketball, but it helps.

"I'm 6-5," said Cameron, who has a 37-inch vertical jump. "There are not a lot of cornerbacks that size."

A lot of former power forwards are playing tight end nowadays. Antonio Gates, the Kent State basketball star on an Elite Eight team, is a future Pro Football Hall of Famer. Ditto for Tony Gonzalez, a two-sport player and a former forward on an NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 team at California. He is still a force at the age of 37 with Atlanta.

"Gonzalez is so athletic, it doesn't look like he's running hard," said Al "Bubba" Baker, a three-year starter at power forward at Colorado State and a defensive end in the NFL with Detroit and the Browns.

One of the best players in the Lions' history, Baker likes what he sees of Cameron. "You watch Cameron. Last week, he got a touchdown, and on it he got to the back of the end zone so easily. He's so smooth and fluid."

"Many basketball players have size and fluidity. They're able to move and use their bodies to create mismatches," Cameron said.

"It helps that (former basketball players) have a sense of the court. It transfers over to field," said Browns coach Rob Chudzinski, a former high school forward. "I was fortunate enough to coach Antonio Gates in San Diego, and he always had a sense of what was around him."

"Guys like Gates and Gonzalez definitely use their bodies to get to the ball. Basketball
players usually have soft hands and are guys who can run," Cameron said.

Oh, goodness, basketball practices are the times that try men's soles.

"I went to an NBA camp with the Golden State Warriors after college," said Baker. "What I learned was, football is a game where you stop after each play and rest for 40 seconds. What I learned about the NBA is that they throw out the balls, and two hours later you stop running. Once you learn you can run hard that long, football ... well, with football it's like, are you serious? This isn't tough."

With the influence of collegiate spread offenses and hurry-up snap counts that might be changing. "In basketball, I learned running a seven-minute mile isn't going to kill you," Baker said.

Baker and former North Carolina forward Julius Peppers, a two-sport player for the Tar Heels, made the transition to defense in the NFL. So did Utah State guard and Dallas Cowboys' cornerback Cornell Green two generations ago.

Baker used basketball head fakes and a jab step to get blockers off balance, then he would spin around them with his quickness. "Those heavy offensive linemen want you to run straight at them so they can grab you," he said.

Baker loved it when the opposition went to a two-minute drill. "I played in a dome in Detroit," said Baker. "People could smoke in the stands back. Those big guys, their noses were running. I wouldn't even go into the (defensive) huddle. I'd be standing there, telling my man, 'I'm going to come at you every single down until something bad happens.'"

He was a good enough athlete that he was switched to tight end in the Blue-Gray Game. "I loved blocking those little cornerbacks," Baker said. "I was the Most Valuable Player in the game, and (former Oakland tight end) Todd Christensen played in it. I liked tight end. I could push off. Every basketball player who ever lived has pushed off (for a rebound)."

None of this would matter without an appetite for contact. Being boxed out by Shaquille O'Neal at his heaviest is not like getting hit over the middle in the NFL.

"You have to love contact. It's a contact sport. It's what you signed up for," Cameron said, "If you don't, you get exposed, and everyone will find out real quick you don't like football."

"I fouled out too much," Chudzinski said of his own basketball career.

"I was in the middle of the zone on defense," said Baker. "Did I give hard fouls? Yeah, but it wasn't by design. It was just my nature."

Doug Dieken, the former Browns tackle and a 6-4 high school forward, said the basketball emphasis on staying between one's man and the rim translated to keeping a defensive end away from the quarterback.

Drolly, he noted one difference between the NFL and NBA. "There's no flopping in the NFL," Dieken said. "Except after the play to draw a flag."

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